De-Accessioned

Imagining the de-centralization of the exhibition space, the current Lucas Soi curated group exhibition De-Accessioned at Toronto's Cooper Cole Gallery displays works in transitory transportation mode, questioning the site-specificity of art showing.

Georgia Dickie:

Georgia Dickie and Laura McCoy:

Georgia Dickie and Lili Huston-Herterich:

Georgia Dickie and Les Ramsay:

Matthew Brown and Les Ramsay:

Sean Weisgerber:

Colleen Heslin:

Abstract free form @ Kananaj

I visited Robert Kananaj Gallery for its group show yesterday.  I was most impressed by the abstract free-form paintings, drawings and mixed media works on view.

David Van Drunen at Robert Kananaj, Toronto 2013:

Sibylle Schwarz at Robert Kananaj, Toronto 2013:

Ivana Kalezic at Robert Kananaj, Toronto 2013:

Koshlyakov's fragmented grandeur

With paint drips on haphazard surfaces, Valery Koshlyakov's large-scale paintings of monumental buildings on canvas and cardboard at the group exhibition Gaiety Is The Most Outstanding Feature Of The Soviet Union depict an empire of fragmented grandeur and faded glory.

Koshlyakov at Saatchi Gallery, London 2012:

MacPhee: elevated from chaos and collapse

I love those fragments of architectural forms elevated from chaos and collapse in Medrie MacPhee's paintings and drawings.

MacPhee at Barbara Edwards Contemporary, Toronto 2012:

Thanks, B, for the good show.

Concrete

Not all art gallery cafes are created equal.  Some are more inspiring than the others.  There are a couple of gallery cafes that I love visiting just as much as the galleries.  Concrete Day Cafe Night Bar of London's Southbank Centre right by Hayward Gallery is one of them.  The downtempo electronic sound they usually play sets the mood.  I went there just for a tea and a little time out even though there were no exhibitions inside the Hayward that day.  Outside the window, Pink Pimp Mix - the concrete mixer sculpture with a fluorescent pink neon outline - was created by David Batchelor.

It is hard not to get creative hanging at Concrete ...

Petrobras [Rio]

It was a pleasant surprise to see my favourite Sarah Morris's Petrobras [Rio] on the cover of the London Underground tube map December 2012 edition:

Balka's Heaven

Distorted and alienated identity in Miroslaw Balka's installation of twisted Heaven at Scrap Metal, Toronto 2012:

Channer + Evans: dressing the architecture

I first saw Alice Channer's distinctive works at her South London Gallery solo exhibition last spring.  Her installations tend to respond to the volume of the architectural space.  It was a nice surprise to see her works again during my recent visit to London.  Alice Channer and Garth Evans dressing the architecture of Tate Britain, London 2012:

Evans at Tate Britain, London 2012:

Channer at Tate Britain, London 2012:

At Fault

Karla Black's signature monumental yet fragile installation At Fault at Tate Britain, London 2012:

Chyr's inflatable supernova

Working at the intersection of art and science, Willy Chyr uses balloons as his medium to create large-scale installations which are both monumental and vulnerable at the same time.  From his 2010 Supernova series:

And his 2012 installation A Handful Of Stardust:

All images courtesy of Willy Chyr

Deerhoof + balloons

I listened to this very interesting album on my flights to London and back.  Air Canada does have some good in-flight music to offer sometimes.  (I decided to get this CD when I got home.)

San Francisco based noise band Deerhoof's 2012 Breakup Song full album streaming video:

Video from GregFromDeerhoof's youtube channel

More balloons ... Georgstrasse, Hannover last summer:

Fourth Plinth

The exhibition Fourth Plinth: Contemporary Monument currently at London's ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) is a documentation of the thirteen years' history of this art commission in Trafalgar Square.  Some of the projects exhibited have been materialized; some have not.  Here are my favourite ones:

Rachel Whiteread's 2001 (built) Untitled Monument:

Anish Kapoor's 2008 (proposed) Sky Plinth:

Mariele Neudecker's (proposed) It's Never Too Late And You Can't Go Back:

Survival & Resistance

Some mesmerizing sound I discovered during my Christmas trip to London ... Balance from Adrian Sherwood's 2012 album Survival & Resistance:

Video from petro maras's youtube channel

Bulatov. Prigov. Breaking The Ice

Back in Toronto just in time for the New Year ...

Currently showing in parallel with Russian new art at Saatchi Gallery is the group exhibition Breaking The Ice: Moscow Art, 1960-1980s.  Erik Bulatov was one of the few names that I had previously come across (at New York's New Museum, 2011).  Dmitri Prigov and many more Russian artists were also featured.

Bulatov at Saatchi, London 2012:

The last painting shown here, clearly referencing Kazimir Malevich's Black Square, actually has a white dot in the middle and is titled Point.

Prigov, also referencing Malevich's Black Square: